Princess of Prophecy: The Beginning
by Aria Saeryen
Summary: King Altador's young daughter has a unique gift...one that will drastically change her life as she knows it. Oneshot, published in the Neopian Times. Prequel to two series about the same character.


**Author's Note: This is an already complete, published story for Neopets. You can view it in the Neopian Times, just search "saeryena" to find this and all my other Neopets stuff.  
**

**This in no way means I'm abandoning Princess and the Pauper II. I would never forgive myself if I did.  
**

In Altador, where the sun shines golden all day, and the stars sparkle all night, there lives a king. Of course, you already knew that. What you don't know is that the king happens to have a family of his own: a queen, a green Wocky called Kalara who is rarely seen. And then there's me, their daughter.

That's right. My name is Saeryennan. I am a Royal Cybunny.

And I am the princess of Altador.

And this is my story.

This, of course, is only the beginning. There is no way I will able to tell the whole epic tale at one time, so let me tell a little story from when I was a little Cybunny.

My mother, Kalara, had just fixed my golden-brown hair so it was up in a bun. I put on a green dress, since I had nothing but. Green had been my favorite color for as long as I could remember. She placed a golden laurel circlet on my head, and I walked out into the gardens of the palace.

It was a nice breezy day; my favorite kind. I decided to watch some of the palace guards practice their swordsmanship. Calissa, my faerie Snowbunny, curled up on my lap.

It came without warning. I had never expected or even heard of such a thing as I was still so young. The world around me blurred and faded, and the next thing I knew, I saw my parents and myself. We were in the dining hall, and it appeared to be nighttime.

Then I saw Calissa flutter in. What happened next was like a nightmare: my beloved Snowbunny flew into a torch and caught fire! I watched myself throw a whole pitcher of water on my Petpet. Then I was watching the guards again.

At dinnertime, something much unexpected and frightening happened. Calissa flew into the torch, just as I had seen earlier. I instinctively threw the pitcher at her.

When the pitcher hit the ground, I found Calissa in the middle of it. She looked hurt, but she was still living. My relief was great.

After my mother had healed my Petpet, I told her about the vision.

"Saeryennan," she said, "I knew this would come up. There's something your father and I have never told you. When you were born an Air Faerie came to give you a blessing. We did not know who she was, but before we could stop her she had given you the gift of prophecy.

For years I tried to make a possible anti-prophecy potion, for I had heard what that power could do to a person. But alas, my efforts were for naught. You were—are—a prophet, and there's nothing anyone can do to change it."

I watched as the tears formed in my mother's eyes. Why had she not told me? And why had I not noticed it before?

Then I remembered. The vision had come when I was only three years old. I had seen my Aisha plushie ripped apart on the floor. I'd started to cry when I'd realized that I was holding the plushie.

Later that day, I had a dreadful tantrum, and in the thick of that fit, my plushie was ripped to shreds. My prophecy had come true.

As I drifted off to sleep that night, I had to wonder if my dreams themselves were prophecies. Now that I thought about it, they seemed quite…ordinary. It would usually be me on a typical day without any of the weird stuff that usually happens in dreams. And I slowly came to realize that the dreams were exactly the kind of day I would have tomorrow.

But that night, my dream _was _weird. I sat on a little cloud in Faerieland, and an Air Faerie was hovering nearby. She wasn't Psellia; in fact I didn't recognize her at all. Her hair was almost white and her eyes were a very light blue, as it was with most Air Faeries, and yet there was something strange about her. It was almost as if her aura was a little bit wild.

"Hello Saeryennan of Altador," she said.

"Who are you?" I asked in great wonder.

"My name is Nyvenne. I am a Faerie of the air."

"Why have you…er…appeared to me, Miss Nyvenne?"

"I am the one who gave you prophecy."

Upon hearing those words I tried at once to turn away from the beautiful Faerie, but found that I was frozen in place.

"I know what your mother told you," Nyvenne said. "You must despise me, Saeryennan of Altador."

"Just 'Saeryennan' will do."

"Listen…I know that I could've given you so many other things."

I started to count them. Why couldn't I have had the ability to fly or time travel? And if not that, why not one of those normal things Faeries gave, like outstanding beauty or a pretty singing voice, which didn't run in the family?

Nyvenne seemed to read my mind. "You, my dear, have quite an exciting life ahead of you. I am a prophet myself, and I knew that you would become one of Altador's greatest heroes, but in order to accomplish that destiny you would need this gift."

"Hero?!" I said. "Girls aren't supposed to worry about heroism! All I need to know is proper royal etiquette and I am very happy with that, thank you very much."

"I know. But you just can't alter fate."

"Well, guess what? I don't believe in 'fate'! I just want to have a normal life! Your little 'gift' has driven my own mother to tears!"

"Without it, you might not have saved Calissa."

"That was instinct! Besides, it doesn't matter because that would have happened anyway, right?"

"We will never know for sure what would have happened, Saeryennan. But you must follow the path that is drawn. After all, you chose it the moment you were born."

That didn't make sense at all.

"Good luck, Saeryennan of Altador," Nyvenne said. With that, the Air Faerie's voice faded along with Faerieland, and I found myself in my own bed.

I had to take a moment to ponder all that I had learned. Be a hero…the idea sounded so ridiculous! How could a little girl like me become any kind of hero?

Then suddenly, I imagined myself brandishing a sword and shield like I'd seen so many men do, my father included. To my surprise and horror, it turned into a vision. I was facing a gang of bandits. One of them had my mother's hands tied behind her back. I screamed.

It wasn't easy to get through the day, seeing as I had no idea when such a horrid vision would come to pass. As I entered my bedchamber, I heard a scream coming from the main hall of the palace. As quickly as I could wearing a dress, I rushed to see where the noise had come from.

What I saw made my jaw drop and my ears stand up on end. They were the bandits from my vision, and one of them was tying up my mother.

"No!" I screamed. I grabbed a sword and shield from a wall decoration.

"You want her?" I said. "You'll have to go through me first!"

The chief bandit, a Kyrii, laughed. "A little girl, a hero?" he sneered.

Nevertheless, I came at him with all my strength. Surprisingly, I discovered I had natural talent with a sword as I knocked his out of his hand.

The Kyrii gasped. The bandits let go of my mother and haven't been seen in the palace since.

"Saeryennan," said my mother later, "you were very brave. You must know that if you wish to learn the ways of the sword I will do nothing to stop you."

"I don't really…want to," I said. "I just acted on instinct."

"Perhaps," replied my mother. "But no matter what anyone says, let your life be your choice."

I thought of what Nyvenne had said. _You must follow the path that is drawn_…_you just can't alter fate_…

That was the day I decided that no matter what prophecies came to me, I would not rely on them to choose my life's path for me. The choice would be mine.


End file.
